Samantha Cutler’s thesis project: 'The Digital Circus,' explores the modern-day addiction to technology, with a particular focus on the psychological grip of social media. The project transforms abstract digital experiences into a tangible, immersive world that questions our ontological relationship with the virtual.
Drawing from the metaphor of a circus, the exhibition critiques the performative nature of online life, filled with facades, distortion, and illusions. The Digital Circus is an immersive exhibition with each exhibit inspired by and representing direct psychological and emotional responses to social media. Each installation within the space represents a different archetype, and become spatial experiences that challenge visitors’ perceptions and confront them with exaggerated versions of their own online personas.
The project is abstract and experimental, deliberately disorienting in parts, encouraging discomfort and introspection. Visitors are not passive observers but active participants, drawn into a narrative that asks: 'Are you passively watching the act...or are you part of the performance?'
The Digital Circus is both a critique and a mirror, exposing the complex relationship between self, screen, and society. It asks us to reconsider how architecture can engage with the digital age and offers introspection to those who enter.
